| This is the article on the ship in Homeworld and Homeworld: Cataclysm. For other similar ships, see Carrier. |
The Carrier was a non-combat Super Capital Ship designed to provide mobile construction facilities used by the Kushan and Taiidan Empire in Homeworld.
Background[]
Carriers were designed primarily to provide fleets the ability to expand their production capabilities, but more mobile and flexible than those of the main Mothership. While not being designed as a Mothership vessel, they are able to field their own modest fleet of strike craft, capital ships and utility non-combat vessels, making it an efficient way for fleets to be sent anywhere in the galaxy. As they cannot produce super capital ships, they would be unable to replace any that are lost without requisitioning them from the Mothership.
In addition to constructing vessels, it could repair any strike craft, accept captured vessels for retrofitting to the fleet, act as a docking point for remote resourcing operations and also deconstruct any retired vessel. Its size limited how many strike craft could dock with it for a hyperspace jump though, being only able to hold 50 fighters and 25 corvettes, necessitating that ships be retired if more existed in the fleet. Its importance was underlined by having very heavy armor, but its key role of being a mobile construction vessel meant that it lacked meaningful weapons and always required a fleet to defend it. Since it could make its own fleet, defense was not a problem as it could field the required vessels on its own, as required.
During the Beast War, The Beast used an infected version of the Taiidan Carrier in its fleets. Upgraded with Energy Cannons and a Beast Infection Weapon, this carrier was a significant threat even to capital ships and was far more effective than Kiith Somtaaw's Carrier (Cataclysm) in virtually every known way; it had deadlier weapons, faster speed and all of its SU was available immediately instead of having to build support modules.
A Taiidan Carrier had the dubious honor of having been the first Taiidan vessel seen by the Kushan since the Exile, when a ship named Taiidan deployed an Ion Cannon satellite in Kharak's orbit, but suffered a malfunction in its hyperdrive and sublight engines due to the interference of the Second Hyperspace Core. This interference caused it to crash into the Great Banded Desert, creating the Torin Crater. The remains were later found by Jacob S'jet, who armed the orbital weapon and used it to decimate the K'Had Sajuuk's fleet. His sister, Rachel S'jet, traced the carrier's transponder and found its wreckage, finding out her brother had died from exposure to the harsh elements of the desert. The crater was also the site of the final fight between Kiith S'jet and Kiith Siidim, where the Sakala and its fleet were destroyed for their betrayal of the Coalition of the Northern Kiithid.
Overview[]
Carriers are a must for any fleet, because it permits the expansion of fleet construction capabilities by providing more queues to build vessels, as well as improving the efficiency of the Motherships' operations in resourcing, capturing and retiring. Their stronger armor makes them the ideal candidate to field remote resourcing operations than the weaker Resource Controller, as the armor can keep it safe from any deadly threat such as that posed by a supernova.
Although it is classified as a Super Capital Ship, its function is not to be involved in combat and should be defended by a reasonable force. The armor also reduces its movement speed considerably, but makes them highly durable in any situation. Although they can be destroyed with sufficient firepower, capturing them is a lot more useful for any fleet, even if it is just to get a large payout of Resource Units.
The versatility and usefulness of Carriers meant that every fleet would field them in some form after the Homeworld War, with Kiith Naabal, Kiith Manaan and even Kiith Somtaaw having Carriers in their fleets. During the Beast War, some notable carriers included the Veer-Rak which was tasked to defend Hiigara from raiding Taiidan Imperialist Faction forces, and the Caal-Shto which responded to the distress calls of a Bentusi Exchange. However, the Caal-Shto meet a grisly end to The Beast and its fate was never determined. By the time of the Vaygr War, Carriers had a continued importance to both sides in the war, but they were designed only to support construction of a single type of ship, instead of all strike craft and corvettes, as had been seen in previous iterations.
Size Discrepancy[]
In the original Homeworld game, the Taiidan Carriers were around 590 metres long, which was slightly longer than a Coalition Carrier. But in Deserts of Kharak, the wreckage of the ships was easily five times the length of the Coalition Carrier.
Trivia[]
- In the Homeworld: Cataclysm manual, the Kushan ship is codenamed Imperator and the Taiidan ship is codenamed Saarkin-Cho.[1]
- In the single-player campaign of Homeworld, a Carrier can be captured as early as mission 5, providing significant support before entering the Great Nebula. Due to an oversight by the developers, in Homeworld Remastered captured Carriers cannot be used by the fleet in any way and can only be retired for resources.
- In multiplayer matches, Carriers become Fleet Command in the case of the Mothership being destroyed. However, if this occurs for any reason, the fleet is unable to construct any more Super Capital Ships (Frigates) in the match, leaving it only able to field strike craft or capital ships as the Mothership cannot be rebuilt.
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Homeworld: Cataclysm manual
Notes[]
- ↑ These replace both previous armanents and is only seen in Homeworld: Cataclysm.
- ↑ Only found on Beast-infected versions of the ship in Homeworld: Cataclysm.